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Monday, October 17, 2011

Agent Advice

Because
I’m ready to query I’ve been trolling the web, brushing up my list of
agents.

I’ve
found a lot of great advice, and because I don’t want to make you search for it
(I’m nice like that. You’re welcome :) I’ve assembled it here. None of it is
paraphrased or made up. It all comes from agents sites or WriteOnCon forums.

Sorry this post is long. I recommend looking through for topics that interest you :)

I love when the opening of a story catches me by surprise with an
unexpected voice or moment or scene. I know that's not helpful since it isn't
specific, but in those instances I *definitely* keep reading. And I always
stop if it's obviously offensive.

Sure, any masterful writer can grab any of
these “openings” and do them justice but for us mere mortals, they tend to be
groan worthy:

Characters inexplicably getting
sucked into a portal for no apparent reason

A
person gathering herbs in the forest (Honestly, it can’t happen as frequent as I seem to see
it in opening chapters).

A
battle scene. (Goodness, let me
get attached to some characters before you start whacking them).

A prologue.

A
distant third person narrative to start (ie. The boy, the old man, the healer)

Clumsy
incorporating of back story in your dialogue.

Launching
your narrative via a dream sequence.

Heroine waking up alone with a
man in her room.

Tired
SF or Fantasy staples: i.e.: quest for a magical artifact, typical characters
(dwarf, elf, the warrioress who doesn’t know she has magical powers), a modern
woman who is really the savior on an alternate world.

Man sitting on steed in pouring rain.

Woman standing on high wall looking out into
the distance at something

devil's advocate: NOT ALL CLICHES SHOULD BE AVOIDED! THEY CAN
PROVIDE A RELATABLE SHORTHAND FOR HUMAN EXPERIENCE. CLICHES ARE FAMILIAR AND OH
SO COMFORTING FOR A REASON! I guess this is my last word. If you can spoon feed me a cliché and then
turn it on its head and subvert all my expectations without me feeling cheated,
you're gold.

I love when a query is professional and tells me enough about the
story to want to keep reading. I hate when an author talks more about
themselves than the story (or sometimes ONLY about themselves...this seriously
happens more than you would think)

I really like something that's got the voice of the character. It
gives me a better idea of whether I will enjoy reading the manuscript. And anyone who can
give a query letter voice is awesome--it's really hard--so that is a big plus
for me because it's a sign the manuscript might be really awesome

I'm different from a lot of agents in that I tend to like gimmicky
stuff. I've taken on (and sold) several clients who wrote their query letters
in the voice of their heroines, for example. I also tend to like it if you can
start your query letter with a "what if" question, although those can
be hard to pull off.

I'd say one of the biggest mistakes I
see PEOPLE making with today's online social media craze is forgetting that
your online persona is just that, a PERSONA. You don't have to reveal all your deepest
darkest thoughts to everyone on the internet.I also think PEOPLE get too angry on the internet sometimes. I've
seen lots of twitter fights and amazon review fights and blogger fights, and
sure people read and talk about them, but sometimes it's hard to respect the
people involved. Think before you react.

First of all, I state publicly that
before a writer submits a query to me, that writer should have a website live. I
think an active and professional website is like a business card. When I request sample
pages from a writer, if I get to page 10 and really like the writing, I stop. I
go immediately to google and I cyber stalk that writer. I am impressed if I see
something there that looks professional. Is it a deal breaker? no. But, I will
repeat - I am impressed when I see something there.

I don't do too much digging for the
author online unless I know I already love the full manuscript. Before that, a
bad or ill-used online presence can turn me off an author, but a good one
doesn't mean much. Once I know I love a manuscript, though, I do want to see
how they comport themselves online, and how comfortable they are doing so.
(next)

I often get asked by writers
what the biggest difference is between Middle Grade and Young Adult. There are
a number of answers to this that I would agree with, but to me personally, the
biggest different is the “heart.” I’m not talking about romance or highly
emotional scenes (all genres can have that). I’m talking about that feeling
that you can have only when you’re too young to have experienced adulthood yet.
When you think, no–you know–that you can make a difference. You can change the
world (and when I say world, it can be the world at-large, or the world in a
more insular way…whatever “the world” is to the character).

For me, it's a feeling I have that I've
learned to recognize over years of doing this. When I start thinking about who
will want to buy this and which of my friends must read this book, then I can't
ignore it.

It's always different with knowing when
I want to offer representation, but I do look at all of a writer's stuff and
get second reads. I also look at the author's online presence--website, blog
posts, tweets, interviews, etc. to get a fuller picture of who they are and
whether we would be a good fit.

Here's what I'll say: I'm surprised at
the number of blogs and posts I read about self-pubbing that don't mention the
tremendous amount of work done by editors, copy editors, designers, etc. it
takes a village to make one book.

Angela Cothran

About Angie

I LOVE books of all kinds and in just the last few years I've discovered I also LOVE to write. I'm currently working on creating a compelling story: a little romance,a little betrayal, a well placed twist, and if a few people die-well it was bound to happen :)

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